On my way home today, I passed a mounted police officer. That got me to wondering how many horseback riders are cyclists, and vice-versa.
Of course, you can't do both at the same time. But I'm sure some have tried. This may be the closest anyone has come to combining both activities:
Given my life experiences, it would surprise few people to know that I think about some of the differences between female and male cyclists, and the experiences each of us has.
I have also become more aware of just how male-centered the cycling world--in everything from the social contexts of rides to equipment design to the attitudes of some bike shop employees. Also, I am shocked at how much of that male-centeredness--as well as some out-and-out misogyny--I helped to perpetrate.
So I guess it's not surprising that some old myths about women and cycling still persist. I was aware of some, and learned of a few others from this infographic that recently came my way:
I've assigned my students to read a group of poems from a diverse cross-section of poets classical and modern. Those poems form a sort of cycle of the seasons.
Yesterday they read Neutral Tones by Thomas Hardy.
I read somewhere that he was an enthusisastic cyclist until late in his long life. Somehow that doesn't surprise me:
Now doesn't he look so completely English with that bike?
On the subject of writer/cyclists, here's a photo of Arthur Conan Doyle and his wife on an early tandem in 1892:
Both photos came from Flavorwire.
